The students have picked their topics for speeches! We're going to be spending quite a bit of time working through the process together. In fact, I am writing a speech as well so that I can carefully model the entire writing process!
The topic that I have chosen is Compassion. Today I explained to the students my reasons for choosing this topic.
1. It's something that we are focussing on in class.
2. Last year The Charter For Compassion was introduced around the world. So the topic is current. I shared the website with the students today.
(http://charterforcompassion.org/site/)
3. Our "read aloud stories" and songs have been about individuals who tried to "Be The Change" and bring about a more compassionate world.
Today I also modeled how to get ideas for subtopics by creating a web. The students were given time to do this as well.
This week, we will focus on "webbing" and ensuring that we have enough content for our next step. Then, next Monday to Wednesday (17-19), students will organize their webs into subtopics with jot notes. On Thursday and Friday (20/21) they will turn these jot notes into paragraphs.
Speeches will be presented in front of the class (or in front of a small group) on January 26 & 27. Students will have class time to practice.
There's a lot of excitement around these speeches! They're doing a great job! There's definately some interesting topics!
